The invention relates to removing and disposing of needles from syringe bodies where the needle is detachable from the syringe body and would otherwise require manual manipulation for removal after use.
A great concern to hospital staff personnel, particularly medical technicians, is quick and safe disposal of needles after injection or blood sampling. When manual disposition is required the chance for skin puncturing and scratching from the sharp end of a cannular needle occurs all too often. In fact, needle accidents sustained in this manner are among the most frequent causes of injury to hospital workers. Such injuries also are the source of potential infections to the hospital personnel. It would accordingly be desirable for medical personnel to be able to dispose of these items safely and easily.
A wide assortment of devices has been provided through the years to make disposal techniques safe and fast. Many involve mere needle removal from a syringe body and others include needle severance to ensure that no re-use occurs. Yet another variety destroys the syringe as well as the needle for particular application with hypodermic syringes used for injections. However, needle destruction for double-ended blood needles would still leave the problem of what to do with the other, intact, end. Double-ended needles, usually are detachable at the needle hub, so that after taking a blood sample, the sample contained in a collection tube may be taken for laboratory testing minus the needle. Many one-ended needles are also detachable. It would be very beneficial to provide one device which can safely remove and contain detachable needles and have the additional capacity of accommodating a wide range of needle sizes. And it would be of additional significance to facilitate the detachment of both thread engaged and friction-fit needle hubs from syringe bodies.
One previous solution affords removal of friction-fit one-ended needles by the insertion of the needle through an opening into a collection box. The head, or hub, of the needle is caught behind a cover plate and pulling on the syringe body detaches the needle. No provision for removing threaded hubs is found and the device is not suited for double-end needle removal.
The prominent significance of the device disclosed is that both hypodermic injection syringe needles and single and double-ended sampling needles, which are thread engaged to a syringe body, may be quickly and safely removed and disposed of by a simple unwinding of threaded hubs from syringe bodies. The additional benefit of removal of friction-fit needles is also obtained.
It is also important in today's climate of increased medical costs to provide a disposable unit which may be simply manufactured out of inexpensive material but yet offer containment for a large number of used, or contaminated needles. The present invention satisfies such a need. The invention further provides a movable lid for closure of the storage container. The lid permits safe transportation to a refuse disposal, and portability for carrying on the person from patient to patient.